Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1887-06-10
KING
Solomon S Mines.
az II. ELDER HAGaARD.

Where art thou, Incubu, thou white man,
who slew Scragga, my sOn-see IL thou
canst kill me.' he shouted, and at the same
time hurled tOlla straight at Sir Henry,
who fortunately, saw it coming, ana caughl
II on his shield which it tranStXed, remain
ing wedged in the iron plate behind the moe.
Then. with a cry Twala sprung forward
Straight at him. and with his bdttle-a& struck
him such blow upon the Shield mat tie
mere force and shockOf il brought Sir Henry,
strong a man as he was, down upon his
knees.
But at the time the matter went no further,
for at that instant there rose from the regi
merits pressing round us something like
shout Of dismay and on looking up saw
the cause.
To the right and to the left the plain was
alive with the plumes of charging warriors.
The uut.ttnkng squadrons had come to Our
relief The time could not have been better
chosen All Iwala's army had As lgEosI
had predicted would be the case, fixed then
attention on the bloody struggle which was
raging round the remnant OF the GrayS and
tine BuilIlDrS who were now carrying on q
battle of their own at Il little distance, which
two regiments bad formed the chest or our
army ii was not until the horns we're
about to gall them that they had dreamed Of
their approach. And now, before they could
even assume Il proper formation for defense,
these had lraped, like grcy huundS, ON theii
E.tnk~.
Ia NV. minutes the fate OF the battle was
dccldrd. Taken on both Hanks, and dis
MAYED bi Tie AWFUL slaughter inflicted upon
them n> the Gray, and Buiidlocs, Twala'e
regiments broke into Hight, and soon the
whole plain between us and Loo was scat
tered with group, OF living soldiers, making
good their retreat As for the force that
lad 50 recently surrounded lis and the But
taIoes. they melted away rs though by magic,
and presently were left standing there like
rock from which the sea had rctrcatcd But
what a sight it was! Around It's the dead
and dying lay in heaped-up masses, and OF
the gallant GEtys there remained alive but
ninety-tiye men. More than two thousand
Hine hundred had fallen IN this oue rcgi-
nent, most Of them never To rise agair.
Men, said Infadoos, calmly, Is bctreen
Che intervals of binding up a wound in his
arm he Surveyed what remained to him OF
ms corps, ',ye have kept up the reputation
Of your regiment, and this days lighting
viii be- spoken of by your chlldren's child
rru" Then hc turned round and shook Sir
Henry Curtis by the hand, Thou ant a
great man, Incubu." he said, simply; Il
have lived a long life among warrclS and
know many brave one, yet have | never
seen a man like thee"
At this moment the BufIl0es began To
march past our position on the road To Loo,
aud as thct did message was brought To
rs from Ignosi requesting lntadoos. Sir
Henry, and myself To join HIM. According
ing ninety men Of the Grals to employ them
selves ia collecting the wounded, We joined
lgn0si, who informed Us that he was pres
sing on To Loo to complete the victory by
capturing Twala, if that should be possible.
Before we had gone far we suddenly dis
covered the figure of Good sitting on AN ant
heap about one hundred PAGES from HIS.
Close beside him was the body OF kukuana
lie must be wounded" said Sir Henry,
anSion,lY. As he made the remark an unto
ward thing happened. The dead kody of
the kukuana soldier, or rather what had ap-
pealcd to be his doad body, suddenly sprang
up. knocked Good head over heels off the
aut-hcap and began to spear him. We
rushed forward III terror and as we drew
near we saw the brawny warrior making
dig after dig at the PROSTATE GoOd who at
each prod jrrl,cd all his limbs into the air
Seeing us coming the kukuaua gave one fin
nj most vicious dig, and with a shout OF
Take that, wizard bottled off. Good did
not move, and we concluded that our poor
comrade was done for. Sadly we came to-
ward him, and We're indeed astonlShed To
lind him pale and faint indeed but with a
serene smiIe upon his face, and his eye glass
stiIl fixed in ms eye.
Capital armor this" he murmurcd, on
catching sight OF our faces bending over him.
How sold he must have bren!' and then
tainted. On examination we discovered that
lac had been seriously wounded in the leg by
tolU ~ the course of the pursuit, but that
the chain armor had prevented his last assal-
ant spear from doing anything more than
hruisc him badly. 1t was meIcitu escape.
As nothing could be done for him at the mo-
ment, he was placed on one OF the wicker
shields used for the wounded and carried
along with Us.
On arriving before one of the gates of Loo
we found one of our regiments watching il
IN obedience Ia orders received from Iguosi
The remaining regiments were In the same
way Watching the other exits to the town
The officer in command OF this regiment
coming up stlutcd ignosi rs king, and in
formed him that TwaIl's army had taken
refuge IN the town. whittier Twala himself
had also escaped but that he Thought that
they were thoroughly demoraIizcd, and
would surrender Ihcrcupon lgnuSi after
taking counsel with us, sent forward heralds
10 each gate ordering the defenders to open,
ami promising on his royal word life and
forgiveness Ia every soldier who laid down
his arms. The message was not W thout its
effect Presently, amid the shouts and
cheers of the BulaloeS, the bridge was drop
ped across the toSSe, and the gates upon the
iud .rr side flung open.
Taking due precautions against treachery.
We marched on into the town All along the
rotdways stood detected warriors. their
heads dropping, and their shields and spears
at their feet who, as lgnoSi passed, Sauted
him rs king. On we marched straight to
fMah'S kraal When we reached the great
space where a day or two previously we had
seen the review and the witch hunt we found
II deserted. No, not quite deserted, :nr there.
on the further side, IN front OF his hut, sat
fwah h,mselt, with but one attendant
al
1t Was a melancholy sight tn see him seat
Ell there his hattlr-aN and shield by his side
his chin upon his matted breast, with but one
ctons tor companion and notwithstanding
his rruc ties and mjSdcedS. a pang of com
passion shot through me rs | saw him thus
fallen from his high estate" Not a SOL
dier ot all his armies, not Il courtier out OF
the hundreds who had crnged round him.
not even a solitary wife. remained 10 share
his fate OF halyc the bitterness of his fall
Poor savage! he was learning the lesson that
tate teaches to most who live long enough
that the ewes of mankind are blind To the
dtScrctltr,L and that he who is dCfenSeieSS
ana fallen hndS few friends aud little mercy
Nor indeed, In this case did he deserve any,
II ing through the kraal Kate We marched
straight across the open space To where the
eN-king sat When within about fifty wards
the regiment was halted, and accompanied
only hy a small guard we advanced toward
him, Gagool rowling us bitterly as we came
As We drew near, Twala, for the first time,
lifted up his plumed head. and fixed his one
eye which seemed to fash with suppressed
fury almost rs brightly as the great diadem
bound round his forehead, upon his success
tut rval-IgnoSi
Hail, oh, kung" he said, with bitter
mackery; thou who hast eaten of my
Tread, and now by the aid Of the white man 5
magic hast seducei my regiments and de
teated mine army, hail. what fate hast thou
Tor me, Oh king
The fate thou gaveSt to my father, whose
shrone thou hast sat on these many years -
was the stern answer.
1t is well. ! will show thee how 10 die,
that thou mayeSt remember it against thine
own time. See, the sun sinks in blood. !"
and he pointed with his red battle-ax toward
the frey orb now going down. sit IL wall